As you may recall, me and Camilo intended to watch the Arsenal vs Liverpool match at the WOOL Pack, so you can imagine our disbelief when upon entering the pub we soon realised that in fact this was the one pub in England without a television. Thankfully, on our way to the pub we picked up the happiest Albanian in Buckingham, and probably the world, Ingrid, so we had another source of entertainment to brighten up the evening with her gypsy attitudes.
The night called for some Rum so we had a few glasses of Captain Morgan's Spiced and Coca-Cola(other spirits and mixers are available at your local supermarket), whilst Ingrid had a pint of Stella, classy!
On the subject of buying drinks, i want to raise an issue, why is it that us men feel obliged to offer to buy drinks for women? Is it simply manners? What if the woman is simply your friend? Shouldn't friends reciprocate?
I only mention this because i had the unfortunate experience last night of being expected to buy drinks just because i'm a man. Having being brought up in Paris for the first eleven years of my life, and originating from Sri Lanka, i am no stranger when it comes to alcohol, in fact if any of you out there consider yourselves to be able to handle your drink, i advice you to take a trip to Sri Lanka and have 'a' drink with the locals, Sri Lankans deal in bottles, not glasses.
The way i have been brought up, i have always been told, if your going out, you go out properly and not with your wallet zipped shut into your pocket. So i am always the one offering to buy drinks to ensure everyone has a good time, but the key word in this sentence is OFFERING.
What i gathered from last night is that certain individuals of the female sex take advantage of a mans generosity and misunderstand it to believe that it means that i will be buying her drinks every time.
Imagine this:
I enter the pub with Ingrid and Camilo and after saying hello to the crowd and Miss.X, i didn't even have time to settle into the new surroundings when i hear:
"So Jay, now your here are you going to finance my drinks for the night?"
Ideally, that should have been my response but after Camilo Ingrid and I managed to wipe the look of surprises off our faces, we decided to sit down until we finished our drinks and make a swift exit.
Ingrid being Ingrid, took over 2 hours to finish her pint, so Camilo and I were left in the uncomfortable position of having 2 empty glasses in front of us with the prospect of having to wait over an hour before Ingrid manages to gulp her last drop of Stella. So when Miss.X received a phone call, we planned our escape to the bar, we asked the polite, well mannered girl sitting next to Ingrid what she would like and got up to make a swift exit; however, as soon as we got up all i heard was:
Miss.X: "Okay bye, bye, bye, erm JAY, JAY, JAY!!"
Jay: "One minute"
And i just continued walking, before she had the chance to place her order. She obviously must have me mistaken for some sort of waiter!
The tension in the room was palpable as we returned with our drinks, and as i gave the polite girl her drink, Miss.X had the cheek to say "You didn't get me my drink". Remind me where it states that i am obliged to buy you a drink? You know where the bar is, God gave you legs, so use them and go buy yourself a drink!
Anyway, rant over! I've spent enough time complaining about ill mannered members of this otherwise rather pleasant community in Buckingham!
Quick mention of the title. Whilst having a civil conversation over the phone with my girlfriend last night, we started talking about a certain individual(whom we will call Mr.XY) we both know who has recently gone through a sex change. Now, this individual recently started working at the same place we work at so we have witnessed his sex change quite directly. Only two weeks ago, Mr.XY was using the female toilets, so it was a big surprise to my male colleagues at work when he was spotted in the male toilets the other day, and a few of my colleagues complained that they felt really uncomfortable.
Now, let me make this clear, I feel nobody has the right to judge any individual on his or hers decisions. In fact, i used to be quite homophobic when i was younger, but fortunately after maturing and actually meeting my sisters best friend who is gay, i realised he was just like any other person with an individual taste. I mean, if I am allowed to be attracted to Brunettes or Blondes or Caucasian or Mediterranean or French women, who am i to criticise his preferences?
On the subject of Mr.XY all i said was that i doubted how much actual change a sex change can actually have on a person. Scientifically, a surgeon can transform your genitalia, but does this resolve the problem? Does this resolve the mental indecisiveness of the individual?
Well anyway, casting doubt on whether someone having a sex change actually changes them, apparently deserves me being called a "Bigoted. Single minded. Pr*ck".
So go figure, whatever happened to freedom of speech?
Au revoir!
